Replay
by The Maze Writer
Summary: The ocean wind roared in his ears. The rocks that jutted out from the cliff glinted maliciously with sea spray. Everything about this place screamed danger. Yet still Dan wanted to jump, and Phil needed to stop him.
1. Epilogue

"Dan!" Phil screamed, running barefoot across the sharp rocks to the cliff.

"Dan! Please don't do this, Dan!" his voice broke on the last work as his voice strained.

Finally, the figure in the distance came into focus.

Phil slowed down as came a few arm lengths away from his friend. His heart started to race, convulsing painfully as he slowly walked forward, his hand outstretched. Gingerly, he touched Dan's arm. It was like an electric current went through him. Dan jumped and took a step forward, towards the cliff and the icy water below.

"Dan, Dan." Phil tried to keep his voice calm as the panic pressed on his windpipes. He took a deliberate step back, and put his hands up. "It's ok, I'm not going to touch you, I'm not touching you, ok?"

Dan hadn't moved except to step forward. His arms were outstretched, as if to hug the sea wind that blew their hair back.

"Dan, I've known you for a long time now. Let's just talk, ok?"

A cry, almost a whine escaped Dan's throat.

Phil winced.

Dan took another step forward.

"Dan, let me help you, Dan!" this time, he let his panic show. "Just talk to me! I'm here for you!"

"No, no, no." Dan whispered.

Phil could barely hear him as his words were taken by the wind.

"Phil….. I'm sorry…" said Dan as he took yet another step forward.

Time slowed down. Phil knew he only had a few seconds before his best friend jumped and was taken away from him forever.

He made a decision.

He dove forward, his arms outstretched to grab Dan's waist. He connected.

It should have been fine from there. Main problem averted. Phil could have tackled Dan, restrained him wait until he wore himself out, and then carried him home.

And he would of, if it wasn't for the rock. The rock covered in sea spray.

As he jumped forward to tackle Dan, his foot slipped, ankle twisting at as odd angle as he felt himself falling to the side. At the same time, his arms wrapped around Dan and his body twisted, taking Dan with him as they fell off the very cliff Phil was trying to save Dan from.

He didn't even have time to be scared.

Phil shut his eyes, hugging Dan's body close to him as they fell through the cold ocean breeze towards the freezing, unrelenting ocean waves below.

The last thing he remembers is Dan being ripped from his arms.

Then it all goes black.

Later, the paramedics said that if it hadn't of been for the bloody footprints covering the rocks they might never have found them.


	2. Chapter 2

The paramedics arrived at 5:13am, lights still flashing. At 4:58 they had received a call frantic from a young male who said he had reason to believe his friend, a "Daniel Howell" was going to try and hurt himself at the cliff near the train station.

As they jumped out of the ambulance, there was just enough light to see by.

They spotted a car about twenty feet from where they had parked.

"Split up!" the first paramedic ordered. The young paramedics did, running to the rocky edge of the cliff.

That's where they found them.

Six feet away from the abandoned car, were the footprints. But these weren't normal footprints.

These footprints were a bright, ruby red.

…

His head ached worse than it ever had before. Sharp pain pierced his whole body, but the worst of it was in his ribs and left wrist.

"Sir? Can you open your eyes sir?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. He couldn't stop the groan from escaping his throat when the light almost blinded him.

"Sir? Can you tell me your name?"

He tried to speak, but only a rasp escaped his lips. His mouth was so dry.

The lady standing over his bed calmly put one of her hands behind his head and lifted, using her other hand to put a glass of water too his lips. He sipped gratefully, draining the whole glass.

Once his head was back on the pillow he spoke.

"P-phil L-lester."

The lady, who by now he had figured was a nurse, smiled.

"Well now that you're awake, let's get you up to speed on your condition."

…

My first visitor was PJ.

"Phil? Phil? Oh my god! Phil!" PJ gasped. He ran over to my bedside and covered his mouth as he looked down at me. To my horror I saw tears well in his eyes.

"Oh Phil," he whispered.

"It's ok PJ," I rasped. "I'm ok."

"No you're not Phil," he whispered back. "Just look at yourself! You're covered in wires, tubes, bandages and casts! You are NOT ok."

"They said I was better off than….. Dan."

PJ looked down.

"They haven't let me see him you know," I continued. "I keep asking, but they won't me leave this bed."

I swallow.

"PJ, have you seen him?"

"Uh, yes."

"So he's alive?"

"Yes. He's alive Phil. Don't worry about that."

 _How can I not worry?_

"PJ, please tell me. Is he ok? What's wrong with him?"

I knew I was pressing him. He looked terrified to answer.

"Phil, I don't know if that's a good idea."

"PJ, please."

"Ok. Let me start from the beginning."

 _The beginning?_

"Wait, but how do you know so much about this?"

"I was the one that got you guys out."

 _Flashback (PJ's POV)_

 _My phone went off at 5:01am._

 _I groaned, not even opening my eyes as I lifted my arm from the comfort of the warm bed-sheets and fumbled for my phone. Eventually my fingers curled around the device and I brought it to my face, cracking one eye half-way to look at the caller ID._

 _It was Phil._

 _I sat up and pressed the "answer" button._

 _"Phil?"_

 _"PJ. I need you to come to the cliff near the train station NOW." His voice was hard, frantic._

 _But before he even finished his sentence I was already out of bed and pulling on my jeans, now WIDE awake. Phil was one of those people who hardly EVER stopped smiling. If he was scared, I needed to be terrified._

 _"Ok Phil, I coming. Can you tell me what's going on?" I said, trying to keep myself calm as I grabbed my car keys off the table._

 _"I can't, I'm driving, I-"His voice cut off into a strangled sound that made me wince._

 _"Phil, it's going to be ok alright? I'm coming." Luckily I was staying with some friends in London and I knew where "The cliff" was._

 _"It's not ok, it's not-"this time I heard a sob._

 _"Phil-"_

 _But this time he interrupted me._

 _"PJ, Dan's going to try and kill himself."_

 _…_

 _I drove like a maniac. (If you call driving like a manic speeding down a deserted road at 5:04am.)_

 _I couldn't get what Phil said off my mind._

 _"Dan's going to try and kill himself."_

 _Dan. Daniel Howell. One of my closest friends, Daniel James Howell._

 _Going to_ _kill_ _himself._

 _I couldn't wrap my head around it._

 _So I didn't try._

 _I just drove and focused on not crashing._

 _I could fall to pieces later._

 _…_

 _No one was there._

 _I came to a screeching stop and jumped out of the car, running to the cliff edge._

 _I could see Phil's car, but not Phil._

 _It was eerily quiet._

 _Something was wrong, I could feel it._

 _I started searching along the cliff edge, looking for signs of life._

 _Then I saw it._

 _Nausea rose in my throat as my hand flew to my mouth as a breathy gasp escaped it._

 _It was blood._

 _There was blood on the rocks._

 _"Phil? Dan?" I yelled, trying to conceal my panic._

 _No answer._

 _Out of nowhere I felt a sinking feeling. Slowly, I looked down at the waves and the shore._

 _There was a body. Blood spattered rocks surrounded the person that lay face down on the shore._

 _Oh my god._

 _Which one of them is it?_

 _And where's the other?_

 _Without even thinking I kneel down and grasp onto the rocks, already starting to lower myself to the shore._

 _Unfortunately there were no stairs to the shore, and I knew I needed to climb my way down. The rocks were sharp and I had a long way to go, but using my adrenaline I was able to scale the rocks and jump down when I was about ten feet from solid ground._

 _My hands were shaking from fear when I approached the body. I knelt down and leaned my head down to check for a heartbeat._

 _I found one. And he was breathing._

 _Gently, I pushed the man onto his back and wiped some blood from his unconscious face._

 _It was Phil._

 _"Phil?! Oh my god! What the hell happened to you?! How did you get down here?!"_

 _He stirred, twitching and wincing ever so slightly._

 _"Fell. Get Dan. I lost my grip. Find himmm," the last word turned into a groan as the pain overtook him and he went limp again._

 _I stood up._

 _I didn't want to leave Phil but I didn't feel like I had a choice. His injuries didn't look like they were life-threatening this second._

 _"Dan? Dan!"_

 _There was no response._

 _I search everything with my eyes. The rocks, the shore, the ocean…_

 _A figure was floating on the water facedown, gently floating as his unmoving body calmly lay in the shallows._

 _Ohmyfuckinggod._

 _"DAN!" I scream._

 _I race into the water, getting myself soaked. The only thing that's good is that he's in the shallows. Dan is 6'4 and the likelihood of me being able to drag out his tall frame was really bad, let alone if I had to swim to get him._

 _Luckily, adrenaline gives me the strength to pull him out as I try not to go into hysterics._

 _As soon as we cross the threshold of the sea I lay him on the ground. There's no time to get him next to Phil now._

 _I start CPR._

 _"Hey Dan, if you don't start breathing I'm going to have to do mouth-to-mouth on you. I know how much you would hate that but I WILL do it. Start breathing!"_

 _I give him to the count of ten._

 _I'm just starting to lean over to do it when Dan coughs, a torrent of sea spray coming out of his throat. It hits me right in the face but I don't care._

 _I push him over onto his side as he goes into a coughing fit, hoping this position will allow him to get some air._

 _Eventually he sucks in a breath and I let out mine._

 _I place my arms under his armpits and drag him across the ground to lie next to Phil._

 _Looking at them closer I can see Phil had a broken wrist and Dan has a large gash in his forehead that will need stiches._

 _They were both covered in blood._

 _Dan's lips were blue as he obviously strained to suck in breaths. He was covered in cuts and bruises, I was starting to get seriously worried about the fact that he could have damaged some organs on the way down._

 _After all, he hadn't stirred once yet and I didn't know how long he'd been without oxygen._

 _Phil's face was covered in blood and it was scaring the hell out of him._

 _"Hey! There's blood over here!" I heard someone yell from above._

 _"HEY! WE'RE HERE! WE'RE DOWN HERE! HEY!" I screamed myself hoarse._

 _Eventually someone must have heard because the next thing I knew there where paramedics all around._

 _They slid Phil onto one stretcher and Dan onto other and lifted them up the side of the cliff via ropes._

 _Everything had started going blurry for me, fraying around the edges._

 _I felt someone shaking me and talking about shock, then I passed out._


End file.
